Last week, the latest season of South Park opened with a fairly mediocre episode that tried far too hard to make cutting social satire. The problem is that it was too topical and it focused on a theme about which most people, frankly, wouldn't disagree. The average viewer, especially those who tune in to Comedy Central, isn't going to come down on the pro-celebrity side when it comes to rich, powerful people have illicit affairs. In this week's episode, Parker and Stone concentrated more on a long-lasting cultural moor with a heavy helping of the limit-pushing intensity that makes this show good. This also lent a significant bit of meta commentary on the role of South Park itself in our society.

The story beings with a new state mandate that has the South Park Elementary kids reading J.D. Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye. Mr. Garrison warns the boys that they're about to delve into a controversial, racy book that has been banned in many schools for decades. When they read through it from cover to cover, they find that Salinger's incendiary work isn't all that offensive. As any self-respecting 4th grader would be, the boys are disappointed and end up penning their own novel. Thus The Tale of Scroty McBoogerballs is born, the most vile, offensive book ever written.

When the panicky, reactionary adults get their hands on the book, they laud it as the most important work of fiction in recent memory. Too bad Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny pin the blame on Butters after assuming that the grown-ups will punish the writer for being crude. What follows is a pretty amusing send-up of the way certain creative individuals are deified in public by the middle-brow masses who want to seem deep and thoughtful. The story could have used a prod at the likes of Deepak Chopra, but I suppose that will have to wait for a future episode.

Let's talk for a moment about the use of vomit in a televised narrative. The dividing line between comedy and drama where regurgitation is concerned seems to be quantity and frequency. In a dramatic production, a character throwing up is a visceral moment of humanization, a way to make the protagonist both more relatable and more revolting. In comedy, however, vomiting is used as an intentionally off-putting and absurd element of real life. Consider that memorable scene from the classic coming of age movie The Sandlot when one of the characters recounts the urban myth of a boy at a state fair who instigated a mass lunch-losing experience. The initially disgusting moment turns hilarious as the revulsion of vomit gives way to the unlikely silliness of many people vomiting at the same time.

This is why this episode of South Park was hilarious. The gross-out factor of Sharon Marsh throwing up at the beginning quickly gives way to a running gag (no pun intended) that taps into something universal. I've always appreciated how the South Park people have been dedicated to realism at the right moments. The way the Today Show facsimiles vomited was true to life and therefore funny. As such, everyone involved with South Park acquitted themselves admirably concerning the main conceit of creative people being offensive just to draw attention to themselves. Parker, Stone and all of their collaborators openly admitted to being vile agitators in this episode, which is a far cry from the insufferable high-horse preaching of the show's lesser episodes.

Best Moment: The Today Show vomiting. It was honest and detailed in such a way that it preserved humor without being outright disgusting.

Notes: Who knew that Butters would be the most reliably entertaining character on this show?

Episode Rating: 4.8/5- I reserve the 5's for the most epic episodes of South Park (see: "Imagination Land") but this one was pretty excellent. I'm glad to see the show hasn't lost its touch, even after last week's disappointment.